How to Make Sweet and Savory Boats

The Boat Press Set lets you easily turn brownies, cupcakes, and mini loaves into cups and boats by perfectly pressing them when they’re still warm from the oven. Once they’re pressed, fill them with the sweet treat of your choice! Prefer savory dishes? Try cornbread cups or boats filled with chili. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Julie Grasser, a Food & Trend Associate in our Test Kitchen has some insights and suggestions for working with our new Boat Presses, whether you’re making one of the recipes developed by Pampered Chef or making your own creations inspired by your own imagination.

Julie says, “We’re so excited about these new Boat Presses! From sweet to savory, we love the endless ways you can transform classic recipes into new favorites. After experimenting with several recipes in the Test Kitchen, we discovered a couple of helpful guidelines for using the Boat Press.

Here’s what Julie found:

Start With the Right Texture

Both texture and taste play an important role in the overall eating experience. For example, if you eat a brownie that tastes great, but is not as moist as you expected, you’ll be disappointed. You need both taste and texture to deliver a pleasant experience.

We first started experimenting with the brownie boats in the Test Kitchen. When describing the texture of brownies and other baked goods, bakers use the word “crumb” to help describe how dense or light the food is. The smaller and tighter the crumb, the more moist and chewy the brownie will be. When creating the ideal brownie recipe for the Boat Presses, we found that moist, chewy brownies worked the best. The crumb of this type of brownie helps to hold the shape of the brownie boat, allowing for enough room to hold the filling.

Cakey brownies have a larger, open crumb. This is what makes them springy and airy. The crumb of cakey brownies did not allow the brownie boat to hold its shape—the brownie just sprang back after pressing it with the Boat Press.

Fudge-style brownies have a very dense and moist texture with a deep chocolate interior. This type of brownie contains less flour and more fat, giving them a gooey texture. Although, fudge-style brownies will hold their shape when using the boat press, the texture will become even more dense and gooey after pressing the brownie onto itself. If you’re a fan of this type of brownie, you’ll enjoy the buttery and fudgy center!

Start with these brownie cups and then improvise to come up with the perfect texture for your taste. Some of our favorite fillings for brownie boats are ice cream, whipped cream, and mousse. The density of the moist and chewy brownie makes it a great carrier for these fillings.

Select Complementary Fillings

For a savory application like Cornbread Boats, using a thick chili filling works great, because the filling won’t seep into the base. Using a thinner, more brothy chili filling would not be as ideal and would be difficult to eat. Pulled pork or scrambled eggs with chopped bacon and cheese are also great filling choices for the cornbread boats.

The oatmeal boats have a soft, chewy texture with some crisp edges. A fruit filling like chopped apples with yogurt works well because it doesn’t soften the oatmeal base. You can freeze these oatmeal cups for busy mornings. Just reheat them in the microwave for about 1 minute, then add your toppings. These boats can be made in either a mini loaf pan or a muffin pan.

All cookies taste better with milk and our Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups hold the milk in the cookie! Here’s a fun and delicious tip to remember. Always coat the inside of the cookie with melted chocolate. The chocolate hardens, creating a barrier between the porous cookie and the liquid milk. It’s important to coat with melted chocolate after pressing them, so the milk doesn’t spill out onto your favorite shirt.

We all love cereal treats and our Treat Boats With Graham Cracker Whipped Cream are an even better take on a family favorite. They can be sticky, so wrap your Boat Press with plastic wrap and spritz it with a little oil before pressing down on the cereal mixture to create the boats.

Our Meatloaf & Mashed Potato Boats combine two classic comfort foods in one bite! This recipe will make your boring Monday night meatloaf dinner into a creative meal by piping mashed potatoes into the wells of meatloaf boats. In order to avoid excess moisture and oil, we recommend dabbing the meatloaves with paper towel after they’ve come out of the oven.

Start with these basics and then let your imagination flow! Show us your amazing creations by posting your pictures tagging us with #howipamperedchef.